Feeding rivalry

It is not usual for an event meant for one department to be celebrated by another. But something like this did happen when the agriculture ministry put out a statement by Sharad Pawar on how high food prices hit the poor the hardest because they spend the most on food. The occasion was World Food Day, which is celebrated on October 16 every year. Pawar’s statement is not novel, but what is unusual is that this statement should have come from the food ministry, as some officials pointed out. Now, the food ministry is headed by K V Thomas, with whom Pawar has argued over opening up wheat exports and the separation of the animal husbandry and poultry departments from agriculture. To be fair, Pawar did suggest that the statement was under the food ministry’s purview. But the issue was eventually settled in agriculture’s favour since the World Food Day is celebrated as the foundation day of UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), which is the agriculture ministry’s responsibility.